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Sin gave him a
death-glare and crossed her arms over her poofy-dress clad chest. She
stalked into Tom's front room, cursing that little old lady with
every step. She looked like she'd just stepped off the stage after a
freaking panto; urgh!

Everyone stared, of
course. And Sin pretended she hadn't noticed. Because
she clearly didn't care what these losers thought. Of course not.

Yeah,
she definitely stood out in this crowd of nearly-naked half-drunk
folk bopping (because that really couldn't be called dancing, could
it?) along to some repetitive dance track that was doubtless one of
Tom's faves. People filled pretty much every corner of his
cellar-space. (Tom liked to have parties in the cellar. Apparently
it made him look cool.)

She
parked her satin (or was it silk? It could be freaking fairy-dust for
all she knew,) -wrapped butt on a bar-stool propped against the
corner. Tom thought bar-stools were classy. Seriously; he was
officially a douche. Why had she ever thought that this
relationship would work? Stupid move. Stupid, stupid, move.

She
stayed there for a while, hoping people would confuse her with a
large and very realistic doll – one of those creepy things lonely
old men dress up and take to the supermarket in documentaries about
kooky lifestyles (not that she was judging – it's just those dolls
gave her the creeps,) …or maybe she'd just blend in to the
wallpaper pattern. There was low-lighting in here, and she liked to
look on the positive side. Occasionally.

Tom
ignored her, in favour of 'dancing' with every other girl in the
room. Dancing… doing everything but make a baby with… same diff
as far as Tom was concerned.

Maybe
he was trying to make her jealous. She actually didn't care. It was
when he started dancing with Terri, whispering in Terri's ear, that
she got up to get a drink. And if there was a little more vodka in
her vodka-and-coke than she'd normally put there, then it was because
of the whole scary-magic-grandma thing, and nothing to do with Tom's
lips so close to Terri's skin. Nothing at all.

She
was having a bad day. She had Rumpelstiltskin's elderly aunt to
contend with, after all. Magic witchy ladies messing with her love
life – pretty much anyone'd need a drink.

-0-

“Sin?”

“Hey
Terri,” and Sin managed an actual, genuine, smile.

Maybe
the vodka helped. Maybe it's
just that it was Terri, and she wasn't dancing with Tom any more.
(Ok, so maybe Sin cared a little
about how close they'd been dancing. Just
a little. Barely any amount, really.)

“What
the hell is up with the dress?” Terri's fingers plucked
good-naturedly at the ruffles.

“That's
a very good question,” Sin nodded mock-sagely, “and I'm damned if
I know; I'm at this party against my will, in case you were
wondering.”

“Yeah…
Tom told me about...” she waved her hand vaguely in a swirly
motion, indicating the mess that was Sin-and-Tom.

Sin
had actually meant crazy-grandma-scary-magic-lady, but that was a
whole other train wreck/possible hallucinatory episode brought on by
a combination of stress and exhaustion; so she let Terri think it was
Tom drama. Because, hell, Tom drama took up a lot of her general
drama quota anyway.

“So
the dress is a form of protest? A statement about what you think of
Tom?” there was a gleam to Terri's dark eyes that let Sin know that
this wasn't a criticism, “Because if it's a message… it's not a
clear one.”

“Ahhh,
it's obviously to let me know she needs to be treated like a
princess!” Tom interrupted, swinging an arm casually around Terri's
shoulders.

Sin
grinned, and then tried to hide hide her smile behind a hand. Tom
didn't have an answer.

Terri
was right, of course, but Tom clearly had expected Terri to just go
right on ahead with all his Prince Charming crap, and just deal with
it. But it turned out Terri had claws. Good on her.

“Jeez
Terr,” Tom shrugged, “no need to be so sensitive.”

“Cut
the crap, Tom,” Terri replied, “All you've been doing all night
is trying to get in people's pants and make Sin jealous. Why she
keeps coming back to you, I'll never know.”

“Did
you get your period or something?”

“No,
I'm just angry at you, moron. You treat Sin like she's worthless, and
I'm just sick of you trying to be a macho-guy, or a cool-guy, or
whatever the hell it is that you think you're doing when you treat
people like trash! Call me when you're back to being you, Tom,” she
flung her bag over her shoulder like a soap-opera-diva, “Coming
with, Sin?”

“Uh…
yeah, ok.” And, slightly gob-smacked, she followed Terri out.

-0-

Somewhere
along the way, Tom'd become the kind of guy who gets his kicks out of
breaking a girl's heart. It was like he wasn't the kid she'd known
since they were ten. It was like underneath it all he'd become cruel
– icy.

Only
most people didn't see the ice. They saw Prince Charming. They saw
the smile, the nice house, the good job, the handsome face, the
success at such a young age when everyone else was barely scraping
by. They saw the man who was truly flattering when he noticed how
pretty you looked, and who could plead with you for something he
wanted until you wondered why you were denying him in the first
place.

These
people didn't see Sin's face when he did everything but have sex with
other girls right in front of her – when he was whispering stupid
stuff in Terri's ear and getting way too close for comfort.

It
was Terri who noticed Sin sitting in the corner in that ridiculous
dress (did Tom make her wear it? He'd manipulated her into coming to
this party, so Terri wouldn't put it passed him. Maybe he told her it
was fancy dress and he had the perfect outfit… what a jerk.)

Maybe
it was the dress that made Terri finally snap, maybe it was that
destroyed look on Sin's face… maybe it was the fact that Terri knew
all about every single one of the times Tom'd pressured Sin into
going out somewhere, only to cancel at the last minute, or told her
her clothes sucked in front of other people, or told her she was
needy or…

Whatever
it was, Terri'd finally had just about enough of what Tom was putting
Sin – beautiful, funny, strong, smart, Sin – through. And the way
he bragged about it – to Terri herself, of all people (did he know
she'd had a crush on Sin, once upon a time? Probably. It was just the
kind of cruel game he'd play) – it kind of made her want to punch
the smile off his face.

Honestly,
why had she waited this long to do something about it? Same reason
Sin didn't just tell him off, she guessed (Sin would tell anyone else
off, after all,) - Tom was a master at making you think it was your
fault. He enjoyed messing with people – at least, that was
what Terri'd ended up believing; he messed with you, turned you
inside out, then acted like it was all your fault.

Sin
stopped walking. And kind of stared at an empty parking space just
down the street from Tom's.

“Sin…?”
Terri asked, “What are you…?”

“Nothing,”
Sin laughed, “there's nothing there!”

“Well,
that's not true,” Terri corrected, moving forward to get a better
look at the spot, “There's a… is that a pumpkin? What the hell?!”

Sin
sat down on the kerb, heavily, and laughed with tears in her eyes.

I liked the ending. I especially liked how Sin started to see her worth and how she was above more than what Tom was giving her, and the way that he was treating her! That's the most important thing in stories - their moral message.

Thanks - and yeah... I don't tend to phrase things as 'morality' in my head, but I suppose it is! (I blame my parents for my aversion to the word 'morality.' This is what happens when you're raised by hippies.)

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